World War II Chronicle: March 15, 1942

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Today’s front page reports the Soviets claim to have killed 10,000 German soldiers in just five days. Typically, Soviet and German casualty claims are wildly inflated. If we were to track the number of casualties the communists reported so far there wouldn’t be any Germans left. However Germany has lost an average of 43,000 troops each month from July 1941 through March 1942, so 2,000 soldiers a day is credible. These figures represent combat deaths; they do not account for total casualties — wounded, missing, and captured.

Consider for a moment the effect such numbers would have on the United States. The Germans lost more men in one week of combat on the Eastern Front than the United States lost over twenty years in Afghanistan and the Middle East campaigns combined. The War on Terror’s footprint was just a sliver of Operation Barbarossa’s, so let’s consider Vietnam War: it took all of six weeks of fighting in Russia to eclipse America’s war dead in Vietnam. How about the Civil War? By March 15, 1942, there are already more German dead on the Eastern Front than those killed during the entire Civil War, which is remarkable considering that both sides were American and combat medicine in the 19th Century was primitive by 1940s standards.

Summary of the war’s 132nd week on page 32… Article on how Gen. Billy Mitchell predicted the rise of air power decades ago on page 34… Sports section begins on page 40… While it’s just spring training, it’s worth noting that the St. Louis Cardinals shut-out the New York Yankees 4-0 (see page 41).